Essays by Alejandro Malo, the Mexico City-based photography critic; and Dr. Mary Ann Wilson, Distinguished Professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Interview with artist Lynda Frese and exhibition curator Laura Blereau.

Published on the occasion of a solo exhibition at the Hilliard University Art Museum, this catalogue presents the work of visual artist Lynda Frese. It highlights a selection of early gelatin silver photograms and experiments made in California, while tracing a steady trajectory, from 1978 to 2018, of her continued interest in human and natural forms.

"As a photographer Frese draws with light, but as a painter she also reveals a deep sensitivity to color and material that is specific to place. Some of the compositions radiate an earthy glow. She is a keen observer of the natural world and its energies, yet her figures operate in a symbolically rich plane of the imagination. . . . Frese’s pictures are essentially landscapes, and the human lives represented in them are part of a larger system of nature. Her work is a witness to countless mythologies, and also tells a story of personal discovery. It seeks spaces of emotional and spiritual power while featuring a myriad of figures – from family members to pop-stars, insects, and icons from antiquity."— Laura Blereau, Curator and Coordinator of Academic Programming, Newcomb Art Museum, Tulane University

Sample Images:

The art work of Lynda Frese has been exhibited internationally and is part of many public and private collections, including the SF MOMA, San Francisco; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Ogden Museum of Art, New Orleans; Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Davis; Hilliard University Art Museum in Lafayette; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Palazzo Farnese, Ortona, Italy; Santa Barbara Museum of Art; and the Center for Photography, Woodstock. In 2016, Frese was recognized by the Louisiana Cultural Awards as Artist of the Year for her sustained work celebrating the culture and history of the Southern United States. She is a Professor Emerita at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Reviews

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☆☆☆☆☆

A sense of wonder and delight

By Barbara AllenThursday, March 22, 2018

This is a beautiful book. With a sense of ecstasy and wonder, Frese's work takes the viewer deep into a world where nature's sensuous dance envelopes the human spirit. Her collages capture a space at once both fecund and decaying, celebrating the ephemeral nature of human experience. I highly recommend it!

☆☆☆☆☆

An Unrepressed Vision

By Gary MarottaTuesday, February 20, 2018

I knew this catalogue was special as soon as I felt the cover: tactile, in a sensuous way, just like the art of Lynda Frese. Spiritual archetypes, ancient ruins, feminist imagery, the power of nature, Louisiana mystique, pop icons---all of these are joined, juxtaposed and explored in an unrepressed vision of the contemporary crisis. This work, with its insightful essays, is at once seductive, dangerous, and subversive.